ASU delivers expertise and cutting-edge ideas to national leaders and policy groups. The Office of National Policy Affairs represents ASU at the federal level and serves as the primary contact for Arizona's Congressional delegation in Washington, D.C., as well as local district offices in Arizona.
About the Office of National Policy Affairs
The Office of National Policy Affairs represents ASU at the national and federal levels. The office coordinates university-wide priorities through the development of the ASU federal agenda and is the primary contact for our Congressional delegation in Washington, D.C. as well as local district offices in Arizona. The office actively participates in national associations to advance issues of importance to ASU and serves as a resource to faculty and staff for federal-related endeavors. In addition, the office monitors the federal legislative process and works closely with relevant federal agencies.
The Office of National Policy Affairs is also responsible for submission of quarterly and semi-annual federal lobbying reports to the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate; therefore, it is the primary contact for all ASU faculty and staff required to submit such lobbying information.
Contact the Office of National Policy Affairs
Matt Salmon
Vice President of Government Affairs
Office of Government and Community Engagement
Arizona’s Congressional Delegation
Representatives
Services for ASU Faculty and Staff
The Office of National Policy Affairs, is available to help ASU faculty and staff with all matters of federal-related business. Examples of support services include:
- Responding to inquiries about representatives, federal agencies and federal processes.
- Information about visiting the U.S. Capitol on ASU business.
- Assistance engaging national organizations such as APLU, Council on Competitiveness, Commercial Spaceflight Federation and the U.S Chamber of Commerce.
- Simplified online reporting of lobbying activity for faculty and staff
Congressional District Map

Districts and Representatives
Federal Lobbying Disclosure Act
For purposes of the Act, “lobbying activities” includes both “lobbying contacts” and “efforts in support of such contacts,” including “preparation and planning activities, research and other background work that is intended, at the time it is performed, for use in contacts, and coordination with the lobbying activities of others.” The statutory definition of "lobbying contacts" essentially means traditional, back-room lobbying of certain high-level federal officials for the purpose of influencing federal law, regulations, policies, grants, contracts and the like, not public testimony, participation in advisory committees, public position statements on policy issues, or other public communications.
A detailed explanation of the statutory definition of "lobbying contacts" can be found here .
Note also that "lobbying contacts" includes only those contacts that are made on behalf of the University. It does not include lobbying that you may perform on behalf of your personal or scholarly interests or of any professional organizations. It includes only those contacts that you make at the specific request or authorization of the President, the Vice President for Government Relations, the Assistant Vice President for Government Relations, or other appropriate University official or that are otherwise clearly within the normal scope of your administrative duties. Only those activities should be included in your estimate. Individual faculty members are not, as such, authorized to lobby on behalf of the University, and any efforts in that regard are considered personal in nature in the absence of specific, individual, prior authorization.
Thank you in advance for helping us to collect the information for our report.
“Lobbying Contacts” Definition
The Lobbying Disclosure Act defines the term "lobbying contacts" in relevant part as follows:
The term "lobbying contact" means any oral or written communication (including an electronic communication) to a covered executive branch official or a covered legislative branch official that is made on behalf of [the university] with regard to:
(1) The formulation, modification or adoption of Federal legislation (including legislative proposals);
(2) The formulation, modification or adoption of a Federal rule, regulation, Executive order or any other program, policy or position of the United States government;
(3) The administration or execution of a Federal program or policy (including the negotiation, award or administration of a Federal contract, grant, loan, permit or license); or
(4) The nomination or confirmation of a person for a position subject to confirmation by the Senate.
The term "lobbying contact" does not include a communication that is:
(1) Made in a speech, article, publication or other material that is distributed and made available to the public, or through radio, television, cable television or other medium of mass communication;
(2) A request for a meeting, a request for the status of an action, or any other similar administrative request, if the request does not include an attempt to influence a covered executive branch official or a covered legislative branch official;
(3) Made in the course of participation in an advisory committee subject to the Federal Advisory Committee Act;
(4) Testimony given before a committee, subcommittee or task force of the Congress, or submitted for inclusion in the public record of a hearing conducted by such committee, subcommittee or task force;
(5) Information provided in writing in response to an oral or written request by a covered executive branch official or a covered legislative branch official for specific information;
(6) Required by subpoena, civil investigative demand or otherwise compelled by statute, regulation or other action of the Congress or an agency, including any communication compelled by a Federal contract, grant, loan, permit or license;
(7) Made in response to a notice in the Federal Register, Commerce Business Daily or other similar publication soliciting communications from the public and directed to the agency official specifically designated in the notice to receive such communications;
(8) Made to an official in an agency with regard to . . . a judicial proceeding or a criminal or civil law enforcement inquiry, investigation or proceeding . . . if that agency is charged with responsibility for such proceeding, inquiry [or] investigation . . .;
(9) A written comment filed in the course of a public proceeding or any other communication that is made on the record in a public proceeding; [or]
(10) A petition for agency action made in writing and required to be a matter of public record pursuant to established agency procedures . . .
The term "covered legislative branch officials" is defined broadly and, in general terms, includes all members of Congress and their staffs, as well as all committee, leadership and caucus staffs. The term "covered executive branch officials" is far more narrow in scope, but also far more complex. It includes the president; the vice president; any officer or employee in the Executive Office of the President, including all employees of the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Science and Technology Policy; "any officer or employee serving in a position in level I, II, III, IV or V of the Executive Schedule", which consists primarily of political appointees; "any member of the uniformed services whose pay grade is at or above O-7," which includes officers at the rank of brigadier general, rear admiral or higher; and "any officer or employee serving in a position of a confidential, policy-determining, policymaking, or policy-advocating character described in section 7511(b)(2) of title 5, United States Code," which are often referred to as "Schedule C" employees. Members of the Senior Executive Service are not "covered executive branch officials" unless they fall within one of the enumerated categories.
While it is impossible to list all of the hundreds of "covered executive branch officials" on this website, the definition generally encompasses only those officials in the highest-level policy or political positions. By way of example, the only "covered executive branch official" at NIH is its director, and the only such officials at NSF are its director and deputy director
Lobbying Disclosure Form
U.S. Presidents and Cabinet Visits
Visits from U.S. Presidents
Jimmy Carter
July 31, 2015
Barack Obama
May 13, 2009
George W. Bush
October 13, 2004
George H.W. Bush
Picture available here
May 5, 1998
William J. Clinton
October 31, 1996
Ronald Reagan
March 20, 1989
Gerald R. Ford
February 24, 1984
Lyndon B. Johnson
January 29, 1972
Richard Nixon
October 30, 1970
Gerald R. Ford
April 28, 1968
Theodore Roosevelt
Picture available here
March 20, 1911
Visits from White House Cabinet members
U.S. Secretary of Education John King, Jr.
December 15, 2016
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack
September 14, 2016
U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton B. Carter
Full video presentation available here
April 6, 2015
U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert McDonald
March 12, 2015
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh C. Johnson
Full video presentation available here
January 28, 2015
U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz
December 11, 2014
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack
September 4, 2014
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan
May 14, 2014 and September 11, 2013
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker
April 23, 2014
U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu
May 15, 2012
U.S. Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner
November 9, 2011
Former U.S. Secretary of Labor Secretary Robert Reich
March 19, 2009